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Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionized the American home with his
"Prairie" style design.
Frank Lloyd Wright believed that rooms in Victorian era
homes were boxed-in and confining. He began to design houses with low
horizontal lines and open interior spaces. Rooms within the Prairie style home
were often divided by leaded glass panels. Furniture was either built-in or
specially designed. These homes were called prairie style after Wright's 1901
Ladies Home Journal plan titled, "A Home in a Prairie Town." Prairie
houses were designed to blend in with the flat, prairie landscape.
The first Prairie houses were usually plaster with wood trim
or sided with horizontal board and batten. Later Prairie homes used concrete
block. Prairie homes can have many shapes: Square, L-shaped, T-shaped,
Y-shaped, and even pinwheel-shaped.
Prairie style houses typically have the following features:Low-pitched roof, overhanging eaves, horizontal lines,
central chimney, open floor plan, and clerestory windows.
Many other architects designed Prairie homes and the style
was popularized by pattern books. The popular American Foursquare style,
sometimes called the Prairie Box, shared many features with the Prairie style.
In 1936, during the USA depression, Frank Lloyd Wright
developed a simplified version of Prairie architecture called Usonian. Wright
believed these stripped-down houses represented the democratic ideals of the
United States.
Some Famous Prairie Houses by Frank Lloyd Wright:
1893: William Winslow Residence River Forest, Illinois. Although this house uses
ornamentation in the fashion of Louis Sullivan, it also shows elements of the
new Prairie style. The house is a symmetrical rectangle.
1901: Frank W. Thomas House Oak Park, Illinois. Widely considered Wright's first Prairie
Style house in Oak Park, and one of his earliest uses of stucco.
1902: Arthur Heurtley House
Oak Park, Illinois. This low, compact house has variegated
brickwork with vibrant color and rough texture.
1909: Robie Residence
This Frank Lloyd house in Chicago is widely considered
Wright's finest example of the Prairie style.
Oak Park Home & Hardware is located within the heart of the Frank Lloyd Wright District in Oak Park, IL (just West of Chicago, IL). We offer Prairie Style Lighting, Prairie Style Hardware, Prairie Style Garden Urns and Planters, and Prairie Style Accessories.
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